MLK Day

When conducting research online to create Martin Luther King Jr. session materials, I noticed that I didn’t really find much of anything music-wise. I was so disappointed! That initial disappointment led to immediate inspiration, motivating me to write a song I am very fond of. 🙂

Oh-so originally titled “Martin Luther King,” this song is… deeper and more introspective than a lot of my other compositions. My strong belief in and connection to the concept of “equality” in every sense made for a very meaningful and passionate songwriting experience.

I have attached lyrics + chords, as well as an audio recording. The quotation, “We’re free at last” is an excerpt from MLK’s famous “I Have a Dream…” speech, and is just such a powerful sentiment. I have my co-author, Lindsey to thank for bringing that to my attention!

I am so happy to be able to share this song with you, and hope it finds a place in your present and future sessions.

–Noa

2013!

I don’t know about you, but I find long drives to be one of the best times to think up new song materials: topics, lyrics, melodies… you name it, I’ve thought about it. Well, about an hour into my drive home from my Winter/Holiday break, I blurted out, “I totally have an idea for a New Year’s song for my kids!” to which my co-pilot sympathetically responded with, “…Sweet.”

Disclaimer: I do not recommend rocking out quite as hard as this woman. She is pretty extreme.

In any case, this 2013-inspired intervention can be as simple or complex as you’d like it to be. It’s very lyrically and melodically repetitious, and was easy for my little and big kiddos to catch onto. I found that almost all of my students had a little “jig” going on whilst singing/playing, so this receives a checkmark for success in my book! 🙂

I made big cutouts of the numbers that makeup 2013, and put different students “in charge” of specific numbers in my larger groups, and gave a student more than one number in my small groups/individual sessions. Having temporary ownership of these numbers was very exciting to many of my students, so I rolled with it! There are opportunities within the song for the kids to sing out their specific numbers, which is great for number recognition, general listening skills, and recognizing cues within an activity.

I created this song intervention mostly to familiarize my kids with the new year, and have them start thinking about the personal goals they want to set for themselves for the year ahead. Some of my kids came up with more in-depth goals like “spending more time with family,” while others said they wanted to “go shopping more.” I’m not a subscriber to black-and-white methods of thinking, or wrong/right answers when it comes to interpretive activities, so just about anything goes with this activity… How empowering!

At the end of the day, I’m sharing this song with you for the sake of having fun creating connections while making music! [[Lyrics and Audio.]]

Happy 2013, ya’ll!!

— Noa